WACA similar to Wanderers – Bavuma

The joke is that South Africans feel more at home in Perth than some Australians. With an estimated 30,000 of their countrymen permanently settled in the city, and its distance from the rest of Australia’s cities, you can understand why. South African batsmen Stephen Cook and Temba Bavuma also have reason to feel like they belong at the WACA, but it’s got more to do with where they come from.

They play their cricket at the Wanderers in Johannesburg, which Cook said was “probably the one ground in the world that’s similar to Perth in terms of pace and bounce.” While the WACA has lost some of its bite and the Wanderers has been known to produce run-fests, especially in limited-overs cricket, the surfaces remain spicy enough to keep bowlers interested.

Batsmen need familiarity to be properly equipped on such pitches and Cook, whose domestic career is more than a decade and a half old, said he had more than enough. “I think it will stand me in good stead and I will try to take a few of the lessons I’ve learnt in my career and translate them into playing here,” Cook said.

Bavuma only has half of Cook’s experience but more than three times his number of Tests caps and is just as eager to show what he can do on a seamer-friendly strip. “Judging by the nets, it’s quite similar to the Wanderers. Here the bounce is a bit exaggerated. That’s a challenge I am looking forward to,” he said.

But both will need major improvements on what they have showed on tour so far if they are to match their talk with action. The pair are the only two in the top seven who have not scored at least a half-century in South Africa’s two warm-up matches.

Cook managed …

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